This invention pertains to body armor for human anatomical impact-injury mitigation. More specifically, the invention pertains to body armor and methodology in the forms of impact-protection slip-plate structure and methodology which utilize, along with appropriate, viscoelastic, acceleration-rate-sensitive, shock-cushioning action, the mechanism of friction-reduced lateral slip between a pair of confronting, generally planar slip-plate sub-structures (collectively called herein a slip-plate organization) to isolate from the anatomy lateral, as distinguished from normal, forces (force vectors) which often attend anatomical impact events.
While there are many applications for use of the present invention, a preferred and best mode embodiment thereof, and a preferred manner of implementing the same, along with certain proposed modified forms of the invention, are described herein illustratively in the use field of impact sports, such as the sport of football. Other recognized use areas include (a) helmets, (b) shoulder, elbow, thigh and chest padding, (c) protective padding required for other activities, seating cushions and backrests in vehicles and the like, and so on.
Much work has been done over the years to improve body armor (i.e., body protection structure) which is intended to protect the anatomy against injury encountered in impact events such as those which are experience by football players during a game, as well as to protect various anatomical zones of those who are engaged in other activities, events, and settings where a shock impact might be experienced. The usual and conventional approach for addressing impact injury involves the provision of an armoring structure which is designed principally to minimize the amount of “normal-direction (i.e., normal-vector)” shock delivered to the anatomy during an impact. The term “normal-direction” refers to that vector of an impact shock event which is directed substantially perpendicularly relative to the impacted portion or zone of the anatomy.
It turns out that many impact events are characterized not only by a normal force vector, but also by a lateral force vector, due to the fact that the specific direction of impact often lies along a line inclined at an angle other than a right angle relative to the impacted zone of the anatomy. From what has just been said above about the conventional approach toward dealing with such a impact, it is clear that conventional wisdom directs attention substantially solely to the normal impact vector, rather than to what turn out frequently be the more serious impact vector, namely, that which defines a lateral impact and shock force applied to the anatomy.
The present invention—via its associated structure and methodology—directly focuses upon this largely unaddressed area of impact-injury mitigation, and does so, as will be seen from the detailed description which follows below, through utilization of an intentionally designed, friction-reduced slip-plate structure which effectively prevents lateral force vectors from being delivered to the anatomy. The invention does this through confining the response-result of such an impact vector substantially to innocuous, returnable lateral slip between a pair of specially arranged slip-plate components (called slip-plate sub-structures) which lie collaboratively intermediate an impact event and a protected zone in the anatomy, thus isolating the anatomy from the lateral characteristics of such an impact.
Preferably, this approach is accompanied by a mechanism and a methodology which involve nominally yieldably biasing the relative-motion slip-plate components into a normal non-slipped position, or relationship, with respect to one another, which biasing operates, immediately following an impact-initiated slip event, to return the two, relative-motion slip-plate components from the thereby-produced slipped condition to the mentioned, nominal, non-slipped positional relationship.
The slip-plate structure of the preset invention includes, in addition to the slip-plate structure just generally discussed, appropriate shock-absorbing cushioning structure which deals with normally-directed impact shock-force vectors.
A further inclusion in the mechanism of the invention is a layer arrangement (two somewhat different layers in the preferred embodiment of the invention specifically described herein) of a so-called three-dimensional mesh knit spacer-fabric which functions to provide, along with reversible, collapse-based shock-absorption, cooling, air-flow breathability in a region of the slip-plate structure of the invention which lies most closely adjacent the anatomy when that structure is worn for use.
Others of the various important features and advantages which are offered by the structure and methodology of the present invention will become more fully apparent understood as the detailed description thereof which follows below is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In these drawing figures, components are not drawn to scale. Additionally, many, specific structural details of these components are not pictured, inasmuch as such details, per se, form no part of the present invention.